[Prevalence of anti-HIV antibodies in dialysis patients].

: Patients treated with chronic dialysis have a high risk of acquiring viral infections and blood transfusions are commonly considered to be the vehicle of transmission. In Brazil this source is implicated in infection of 15 percent of patients developing acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). So, we evaluated the relative risk of our patients in dialysis becoming infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus associated with the AIDS. An enzyme immunoassay showed 6 of 104 patients on dialysis to have antibodies to HIV. In five infection with HIV was confirmed by Western blot tests. Investigation of other risk factors for AIDS showed that blood transfusion was the most likely cause of contamination. There was no correlation between HIV and HBV infections. Only one patient had leucopenia and low OKT4/T8 ratio and she died 90 days after sorologic diagnosis of HIV infection; the cause of death was encephalopathy and sepsis. Two patients died after 4 and 16 months victims of cardiocirculatory problems (non-AIDS related causes). Three patients remain asymptomatic on chronic hemodialysis 20, 36 and 37 months after diagnosis of HIV infection.